Their world had shattered into a thousand shards the moment Toluer had found them, Sapphire knew that much. It had tilted off balance and fell till it crashed with no one to save it. Perhaps they had been doomed ever since Kapok, perhaps they had been delaying the inevitable. Death always had a strong clutch.
No one spoke. It was quiet in the iron wagon they had been trapped in, sitting ducks, trapped like animals for an exhibition. For all its grandeur and beauty, Sapphire loathed Coler. This would be the place of her death. She would be beheaded she knew, her head would roll out and her blood would claim the streets till it was washed and licked away by the stray dogs. A grave was not written in her fate. She'd go unmarked in death, with a taint on her name. She would die a traitor's death. All for a crime she hadn't committed. All for being a VannØrn. If they wanted to get out alive, they'd have to make their escape quick.
She heard the bustle of the market, the shouts of vendors, the orders yelled by the guards and the ringing of bells of a herald rushing past. She daredn't lift her head. She could not bring herself to look at the people's faces as they ogled at them in the streets.
"Hoist the waterway! Let the barrage rise!"
Her gaze lifted. She could not look away for all that she tried. The castle rose grey and white against the clear sky, sitting between a wide glittering expanse of water that for a moment, under the evening sun, turned to a neverending swathe of blood before it melted into gold as the waves splashed against the rocks. The moat itself would be as wide as eight leagues wide. The rock on which the Kingsgate Citadel had been built was an extensive structure of jagged ends and nests of wild birds and to Sapphire, it seemed as if someone had taken one of the Bathran mountains to construct the palace. A mist swam around the base.
Sapphire's eyes followed a trail of crows rising into the air, cawing and shrieking. She had never felt as cold as she did then.
She turned away. Lysander's eyes were trained at the sky the entire time as if he could not bear to lower his gaze and observe the city he had taken his first breath in. Maybe he was praying, Sapphire did not know. She had to get her plan to work.
Toluer barked out his orders in a sharp voice and accompanied them as the carts were led across the bridge, the wheels screeching across the pale brocks beneath them. They were chained and led through the courtyard when the carts finally stopped. Sapphire had always heard of the magnificence of Falargimea's palace and court, and if, at that moment, she wasn't being led to the dungeons, she would have appreciated the high rising walls and turrets, the moat surrounding the land and the exotic variety of birds milling about in the clear water.
It was magnificent.
They were led past the arched stoneway, the bars of the gates disappearing into the stone like teeth of a wolfhound. The sides of the archway were flanked by two ivory statues of eagles with their wings spread wide and encasing the vaulted entrance. They were embossed and carved with intricate detail, each feather formed with the highest perfection. Two aquamarines, as wide as a soldier's shield were set in the sockets of their eyes and when the sun caught on them, they gleamed bright as a thousand stars, blinding her so that she had to turn away her head.
The servants milling around the courtyard parted like water, heads bowing when Toluer passed them and then craning their necks to get a better look at the prisoners who had been captured. Whispers broke out like hisses of fires all over the place. Someone shouted something. Sapphire couldn't make out the words. Her eyes travelled to the five flags flapping lightly in the air. The orange red flag of the VannØrn was absent. There was no phoenix amid the cluster of sigils.
It made her lose her breath. It was as if someone had punched her in the stomach and then landed a blow to her chest. VannØrn were a sept found only in Falargimea. This was their end. This was their extinction. When she was younger, she had thought the bards exaggerated their tales of The War of Faranthemies. She thought they had coloured the events over the centuries. Thought the blood feud between the VannØrn and the Borskalle was perhaps not as grim as it was sung about. She was wrong. She had been wrong about so many things.
"Many thought it was going to be another goose chase, Master Toluer," a man approached Toluer and clasped his elbow in a shake. He then clapped his hands together, the rings on his fingers clinking together. "They said they were like ghosts. Shadows."
"Then they thought wrong, Master Cadar," Toluer replied, tightening the belt on his coat. "I might entertain you by delivering that ghosts would take offence at being put in the same wicker box as them. They were always too apparent in their actions."
"Men judge many a thing wrong, eh?" Cadar clapped his hands together.
Sapphire's attention had been arrested by Irontooth and she stared at her sword hanging from Toluer's belt. She narrowed her eyes at it. She would have to be fast.
Surprise. Surprise them. It's the best element you can use against your opponent.
It was what Orion had taught her when she was young.
"Has Master Faske informed the King?" Toluer had turned around. He leaned towards the older man. "I'm afraid we had a bit of a quarrel and Master Faske might not be too fond of me in the light of those events."
Sapphire snapped her gaze away. She faintly heard the next words.
"Went right up to the King's chambers to deliver the delightful news," a chuckle brushed past Cadar's lips. "Faske is a hard man to please. Take care not to agitate the man so much, Toluer. Burn a tiger, pay with your life. Faske is one to take matters under his own charge. Your death might as well turn out to be an accident. It would be a shame to watch you go."
Her breath had frozen, her gaze trapped on the rising wall above her. For a moment, she could only see darkness as it rose behind her vision and then the rage thundered in like a dark sea storm, till all she saw was a red as bright as the fires of the sun.
In a blur of grey, she had lunged forward, removed Irontooth from the scabbard at Toluer's belt and slashed through three guards before they could realize she had moved. The courtyard echoed with yells, Toluer turned around and the blade swung through the air, cutting across his sartorius. He howled as blood splattered on the ground.
It was chaos. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Thomas lunge for one of his bags, Lysander's hands shot out and James, Rueen and Andrew jumped for cover, ducking into the stampeding crowd. Sapphire lunged at Toluer again, her blood pounding in her ears. Toluer threw out his hands, fingers twisting and Irontooth met a solid shield.
Guards rushed forward and Sapphire turned tail, cutting through as many of Parr's men as she could, trying to reach Aurora's rearing form.
"Archers to the ready!" the shout made her head snap towards the battlements. A hundred crossbows were aimed at them. The tips of the arrows glinted under the sun.
"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Toluer's angered words rang over the courtyard, hoarse and magnified. The first few arrows fell. One grazed Sapphire's arm as she pushed herself behind a wall. "Damn you all to hell! Hold your fire!"
His words rang over deaf ears. Servants bumped into her as they ran into the castle, women running with their skirts held away from their feet. Some carried children in their arms. She saw a flash of white hair and ran. Weaving her way through the crowd, she made her way towards Lysander who stood in the thick of it all, warding off five men at once.
She disarmed one and clashed swords with another.
"Do something!" she yelled at him. She tried to catch a glimpse of her uncle's familiar peppered hair or the flare of Rueen's skirts.
The prince blasted away two men. There were too many soldiers. Thomas was nowhere in sight. Sweat lined her brow and her biceps burned with exertion. A man swung for her throat. She had to twist her arm to the fullest to block the blow.
And then the air was full of vines and branches, swinging across the men, throwing them away and lifting them into the air. Her gaze followed the path of the dark boughs and saw Ileeyan's hands moving deftly in the air as he pushed the guards around. The sharp shoulders had twisted and elongated like branches of trees, reaching out like a dozen hands towards the horde of soldiers. Toluer's voice rang loud over the hustle, trying to halt the assault of arrows. There came a yell, a call, a shriek of metal against stone and Sapphire whirled around.
Time seemed to slow. Her eyes widened. Her hands went cold and her breath froze in her lungs as she saw the blade of the axe glint in the sun's rays. She was blinded. She could not move as the blade moved right towards her heart.
.·:*¨༻ ༺¨*:·.
Well. Things are looking up a bit.
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